Automated movement detection with audio and visual information

ABSTRACT

The embodiments contemplate systems and methods for detecting moving tissue within an object. In one such method, a transducer is directed to transmit a first and second ultrasound pulse at a sample volume within a patient. A first and second echo signal of the first and second ultrasound pulses, which contain information related to the sample volume, are received from the transducer, and a location and type of blood vessel located within the sample volume is determined from the information. The located blood vessel information is then processed to create at least one of a visual representation of the blood vessel type.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related by subject matter to the following commonlyassigned applications, the entirety of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein: U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, AttorneyDocket No. PENR-0007 filed on same date herewith and entitled “AUTOMATEDMOVEMENT DETECTION WITH AUDIO AND VISUAL INFORMATION”; and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. ______, Attorney Docket No. PENR-0027 filed on samedate herewith and entitled “AUTOMATED MOVEMENT DETECTION WITH AUDIO ANDVISUAL INFORMATION.”

BACKGROUND

Ultrasound imaging techniques are useful in depicting tissue, such asblood vessels, and its characteristics through the transmission ofultrasound pulses. Such techniques are commonly used in medicalprocedures because these ultrasound imaging techniques allow physiciansto localize and identify various structures, thereby aiding in, forexample, the classification of blood vessel types and quantification ofblood flow abnormalities. Other example procedures include the insertionof a needle or the placement of a catheter. Current ultrasound imagingtechniques include two-dimensional or three-dimensional B-mode, spectralpulsed or continuous wave Doppler, and two-dimensional orthree-dimensional color flow mapping.

Ultrasound imaging techniques may employ the Doppler principle on bloodflow within vessels, which may provide information such as blood flowdirection and blood flow velocity. Such information may be used withknown blood vessel characteristics to determine the type and/or locationof the blood vessel.

Pulsed wave (PW) Doppler is one type of ultrasound imaging techniqueused for detecting blood vessels, as well as blood flow direction,velocity, and other vessel characteristics. PW Doppler may be formed bythe measurement of Doppler shifts that occur in a transmitted ultrasoundpulse sequence, which are caused by the movement of ultrasoundscatterers from one pulse to the next. The transmitted pulse sequencemay be sinusoidally modulated, for example. The measurement of Dopplershift is taken from a sample volume of the returned echo signals frommore that one pulse. A display may illustrate, in a histogram or otherformat, the sample volume and its corresponding characteristics. Ascanner that incorporates the PW Doppler technique may thereby provide adisplay that enables a user to determine the type and position of ablood vessel located within the sample volume as well as detailedcharacteristics of the blood flow within the vessel.

It should be noted that, conventionally, the term “Doppler ultrasound”is used in the art to describe techniques for estimating the rate ofmovement of ultrasound scatters. The Doppler principle, in general,describes the perceived or apparent change in frequency, and/orwavelength of a wave by an observer who is moving relative to the wave'ssource. The apparent change, known as the Doppler effect, may be causedby a motion of the observer, by a motion of the source, or by both amotion of the observer and the source. With respect to ultrasoundtechnology, the term Doppler originated in the continuous wave systemswhere it applies reliably.

The actual role of the Doppler effect in pulsed wave (PW) systems,however, has been questioned by some researchers due to other factorsinherent in the PW measurement process. For example, Doppler-basedsystems typically estimate the phase of returned echoes and measure therate of change of these phase estimates to determine the Doppler shiftfrequency. Alternatively, in some PW systems several techniques existfor measuring scatterer velocity that rely strictly on time displacementmeasurements between pulses, instead of phase measurements. In effect,PW systems typically attempt to measure the shift in position of targetecho signals to estimate their motion velocity. However, the term“Doppler” still endures, even in such PW situations where the Dopplereffect may not actually be a factor in the measurement process.

Conventional ultrasound scanners that assist in determining the locationand identification of blood vessels, such as a PW Doppler scanner, mayinclude user controls that require adjustment during the imagingprocess. Physicians or technicians, in attempting to locate or identifya blood vessel using an ultrasound scanner, may need to adjust a settingon the scanner to obtain a more accurate reading of the vessel or togather further information related to the reading. Such user interactioncan cause a breach of sterility requirements, which are often necessaryduring medical procedures. Additionally, a conventional ultrasoundscanner may have a probe that operates within the sterile field and amain unit that operates outside the sterile field. The main unit may beenclosed in a plastic cover to enable it to be located within thesterile field, but in such cases the physician or other operator may belimited in the adjustments that can be made using the controls of themain unit.

In addition to the sterility issues that arise in connection with theadjustment of scanner controls and settings, conventional ultrasoundscanners are generally complex and provide extensive control options fora variety of diagnostic image capabilities. Often, a physician or otheruser of a scanner may simply need to locate a vessel and determine thesize of the vessel.

Thus, there is a need for an ultrasound imaging technique and scannerthat identifies blood vessels with a relatively minimal amount of userinteraction.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing limitations and drawbacks, methods and systemsfor locating moving tissue are presented. In one such method, atransducer is directed to transmit a first and second ultrasound pulseat a sample volume within a patient. A first and second echo signal ofthe first and second ultrasound pulses, which contain informationrelated to the sample volume, are received from the transducer, and alocation and type of blood vessel located within the sample volume isdetermined from the information. The located blood vessel information isthen processed to create at least one of a visual representation of theblood vessel type.

One such system includes a probe that comprises a transducer. Thetransducer transmits a first and second ultrasound pulse at a samplevolume within an object and receives a first and second echo signal ofthe first and second ultrasound pulses. The system also includes a mainunit that comprises a vessel locator and an image processor. The vessellocator determines a location of a blood vessel located within the firstsample volume from the first and second echo signals, and the imageprocessor creates a visual representation of blood flow characteristicswithin the located blood vessel.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary and the following detailed description are betterunderstood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. Exampleembodiments are shown in the drawings; however, it is understood thatthe embodiments are not limited to the specific methods andinstrumentalities depicted therein. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing an example ultrasound system;

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b are example flow mean velocity traces;

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b are example position displacement displays;

FIG. 4 is a diagram representing a binary map of a sample volumelocation;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method ofselecting a blood vessel;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a blood vesseldetection method;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram representing various components of an exampleprobe;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram representing an example configuration ofcomponents of a main unit; and

FIGS. 9 a and 9 b are diagrams representing example configurations ofultrasound transducer, ultrasound beams and sample volumes, inaccordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed embodiments are related to an ultrasound system andmethods for locating and identifying moving tissue, such as blood or ablood vessel, that is located within a region of a sample volume. Forpurposes of explanation, examples involving the location of a bloodvessel are discussed herein; however, it will be appreciated that anembodiment is equally applicable to any type of moving tissue. TheDoppler principle may be employed to locate and identify the bloodvessel by the attainment of Doppler characteristics of the sample volumeand a comparison with known blood vessel properties. The sample volumecontaining the blood vessel within the region may be selected forprocessing and presentation. Upon the location and identification of theblood vessel, characteristics relating to the blood flow within thelocated blood vessel may be audibly and/or visually presented to a userof the system, such as a physician or technician. The audio and visualpresentation, either alone or in combination, may assist the user inperforming various procedures, such as medical techniques requiring theidentification of a vein or an artery within a patient. It should beappreciated that the use of the word “patient” herein is not limited toa human patient. For example, the word “patient” also may be used torefer to, for example, an animal patient in a veterinary setting.

In one embodiment, the disclosed system and methods provide forcontinuous monitoring of the presence of moving tissue, such as blood,blood vessels, fetal cardiac tissue, or the like, within a field ofview. (Not all authorities agree that blood is a type of tissue, but forpurposes of the present disclosure blood is considered to be fluidconnective tissue, and therefore is a subset of “tissue.”) For example,a physician or technician performing needle puncture or cannulation isespecially interested in vessels closest to the skin surface along theplane of insertion. One embodiment may search for vessels beginning atthe skin surface along the expected needle insertion plane, for example.The vessel closest to the surface may then be identified andcharacterized. Alternatively, an embodiment may begin at some otherpoint and work toward or away from the skin surface. In any event, anembodiment may periodically repeat the search with the expectation thatthe probe or patient position may have changed since the priordetection. Such an embodiment may then periodically update the newlydetected vessel location and other identifying characteristics.

As noted above, the term “Doppler” is conventionally used in connectionwith ultrasound applications, even in PW situations where the Dopplereffect may not actually be a factor in the measurement process. Thus, itshould be appreciated that any reference herein to the term “Doppler”includes any such use of the term, even when such use may not, strictlyspeaking, actually involve the Doppler effect. Thus, the phrase“position displacement data” is primarily used herein to refer to anyinformation that may be used to calculate the motion velocity of targetecho signals (e.g., time displacement, phase displacement, etc.), but itwill be appreciated that the term “Doppler” is used interchangeablytherewith.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of an example ultrasound system100. Ultrasound system 100 may operate to identify and locate a bloodvessel within an object. Ultrasound system 100 may include transducer110 for transmitting a pulse, such as an ultrasound pulse, at an objectsuch as, for example, a portion of a human body. The pulse may betransmitted at a periodic rate (a pulse repetition frequency (PRF)).Transducer 110 may be a multi-element transducer array. The transmittedultrasound pulse creates a return echo signal from the object at whichthe pulse was transmitted. The return echo signal may containinformation related to the object. For example, if transducer 110transmits an ultrasound pulse at a region, or a sample volume, of ahuman body, the return echo signal may be analyzed to obtain informationrelated to a blood vessel located within the region, such as the bloodflow within the sample volume. The analysis may include analysis ofposition displacement data calculated from the received echo signal ascompared to the transmitted ultrasound pulse.

In an embodiment, transmit control 195 and transmitter 196 may also beincluded as elements of ultrasound system 100. Transmitter 196 includesone or more transmitters that drive each of the transducer elementsrepresented by transducer 110, as well as transmit and/or receive switchcircuitry that isolates transmitter 196 from a receiver element duringthe transmit event. The transmitters may produce a focused, unfocused,or defocused transmit beam. Transmit control 195 may provide signals totransducer 110 to control the steering, focus, timing or other waveformproperties of the transmitted ultrasound wave. The wave emitted from anarray of transducer 110 elements may be steered and focused by applyingrelative delays to the various array elements, for example. The PRF isanother example timing characteristic that may be provided by transmitcontrol 195.

In an embodiment, ultrasound system 100 may also incorporate beamformingmodule 190, which may receive the echo signal, perform one or moreoperations on the echo signal to steer and/or focus the signal at itstarget, and transmit the processed echo signal to vessel locator 120 andsample volume extractor 150. Beamforming module 190 may includepre-amplifier 191 that receives and amplifies the return echo signal ofthe ultrasound pulse, analog to digital (AD) converter 192 thatdigitizes the amplified echo signal and demodulator 193 that convertsthe digitized and amplified echo signal to a base-band signal.

Integration module 194 may be incorporated to produce a base-band datapair from a plurality of base-band data samples received fromdemodulator 193, at a PRF. The base-band data pair may have bothin-phase and quadrature (I/Q) components at the PRF.

Vessel locator 120 may be included as an element of ultrasound system100. Vessel locator 120 functions to detect a blood vessel from thereturn echo signal of the ultrasound pulse transmitted from transducer110. Vessel locator 120 may employ any calculation methodology to aid inthe determination of the blood vessel type, and more specifically maycalculate position displacement data, or an estimate of positiondisplacement data, from the return echo signal. For example, bloodvessels are known to have distinguishing characteristics that vessellocator 120 may apply in determining if a blood vessel is located withinthe sample volume and if so the type of blood vessel located within thesample volume.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 a-b (the remaining components illustrated inFIG. 1 will be discussed below), an example arterial flow mean velocitytrace and an example venous flow mean velocity trace are contrasted toillustrate an example of blood vessel characteristics that may be usedto determine a blood vessel type. The arterial flow mean velocity,illustrated in FIG. 2 a, typically pulsates at a fairly periodic rateover time. In contrast, flow mean velocity trace of FIG. 2 b indicatesthat the venous flow mean velocity remains relatively constant. A meanvelocity estimate over time may be computed by, for example, vessellocator 120 to obtain the distinguishing characteristic of the bloodvessel. Other position displacement characteristics that may be used todetermine the blood vessel type include, but are not limited to, maximumvelocity and modal velocity of the blood flow, Doppler bandwidth(variance), acceleration, deceleration, signal power (or intensity),pulsatility, vessel wall motion and the like.

Mean velocity may be computed by vessel locator 120 from data obtainedfrom the return echo signals obtained from a plurality of transmitpulses. The computation may include filtering the spectrum to reducenoise and taking a weighted average of the filtered spectrum. Thecomputation may be expressed as follows:

Mean Velocity=(1/N)ΣvS(v)

In the above equation, S(v) is the magnitude of the spectrum at velocityv. The spectrum is averaged over N velocity bins. Values of S(v) below agiven threshold may be considered noise and may be discarded to reducethe variance of the estimate in some embodiments.

Alternatively, an autocorrelation method of mean velocity estimation maybe implemented by vessel locator 120 to compute the mean velocity of theblood vessel for identification and location purposes. Such a techniqueuses time domain position displacement data, instead of spectral data.An example computation using a lag 1 autocorrelation for this method isshown below. The variables I(n) and Q(n) represent the basebandcomponents at time n for an ensemble of data acquired at times n=0 . . .N with each sample separated by the time interval 1/PRF.

R _(1X)(N)=Σ{I(n−1)I(n)+Q(n−1)Q(n)}, n=1 . . . N

R _(1Y)(N)=Σ{I(n−1)Q(n)−Q(n−1)I(n)}, n=1 . . . N

Φ(N)=tan⁻¹ {R _(1y)(N)/R _(1x)(N)}

In some embodiments, a recursive form of the algorithm may alternativelybe used because the return echo signal may arrive in a continuous streamfrom one or more sample volume locations. This form of the algorithm maybe expressed as follows:

X(n)=I(n−1)I(n)+Q(n−1)Q(n)

Y(n)=I(n−1)Q(n)−Q(n−1)I(n)

R _(1X)(n)=R _(1X)(n−1)+X(n)−X(n−N+1)

R _(1Y)(n)=R _(1Y)(n−1)+Y(n)−Y(n−N+1)

Φ(N)=tan⁻¹ {R _(1Y)(N)/R _(1X)(N)}

After the mean velocity is traced over time as illustrated in FIGS. 2a-b, a measure of pulsatility may be derived from the deviation of thevelocity trace from its average baseline value as well as theperiodicity of such a deviation. For example, a simple example techniquemay involve the calculation of the deviation from the mean of the tracewhere the mean is computed over a time interval at least as large as atypical heart cycle such as, for example, approximately two seconds.Mean velocity traces with periodic deviations from the mean that exceeda given threshold may qualify as being from arterial flow. Traces withrelatively small deviations from the mean may be considered venous flow.In an embodiment, random or occasionally large deviations may beconsidered as noise and may be discounted from the analysis. Methods toreduce the impact of noise may also be implemented, such as averagingover several samples prior to thresholding, for example. Furthermore, anembodiment contemplates that multiple sample volumes from differentlocations may be processed substantially simultaneously.

Referring now to FIG. 9 a, example configuration 900 of transducer array910, blood vessel 930, ultrasound beam vectors 911 and 912 and threesample volumes locations 921, 922 and 923 are illustrated. In theexample configuration 900 of FIG. 9 a, ultrasound beams 911 and 912emanate from different locations on transducer array 910, but it shouldbe appreciated that in an embodiment beams 911 and 912 may intersecttransducer array 910 at the same location but at different angles.Sample volumes 921 and 922 are located along the same beam direction(i.e., along ultrasound beam vector 911), so they may be acquired fromechoes of the same transmit pulse. Sample volume 923 resides on adifferent beam location (i.e., along ultrasound beam vector 912), butmay nevertheless be acquired from the same transmit pulse as samplevolumes 921 and 922 using, for example, multi-beam acquisitiontechniques known to those skilled in the art. Alternatively, any or allof sample volumes 921, 922 and/or 923 may be acquired from differenttransmit pulses.

In such an embodiment, the contributions from each sample volume 921,922 and/or 923 may be used to improve the determination of a type ofvessel 930. For example, multiple sample volumes along the same beamdirection may be extracted (e.g., sample volumes 921 and 922), as wellas sample volumes from multiple beam directions acquired eitherconsecutively and/or substantially simultaneously (e.g., sample volume923). It may be appreciated that each of the sample volume-derived datasequences may be processed independently as described above and theirresults combined in ways that may improve the accuracy of the vesselidentification. For example, the final vessel 930 type determination maybe based only on the identification that appears to be the most reliablebased on some predetermined criteria such as, for example, periodicityand/or some other measure of adherence to the assumed flow type model.

Additionally, and again referring to FIG. 1, vessel locator 120 mayoperate on one sample volume nearest to the surface of a patient's skin(i.e., the shallowest vessel) for example. Alternatively, other criteriamay be employed or incorporated in connection with the location of ablood vessel. For example, a user of ultrasound system 100 may wish tolocate a blood vessel at a predetermined distance from the skin'ssurface rather than the first blood vessel. Vessel locator 120, upondetermining that a blood vessel or the desired type of blood vessel isnot located within the first sample volume, may then analyze a pluralityof sample volumes until the blood vessel is determined to be locatedwithin one of the sample volumes. Such an analysis may include computingposition displacement data, or an estimate of position displacementdata, from the return echo signal as discussed above. Upon identifying adesired blood vessel, the location of the sample volume may becommunicated from vessel locator 120 to vessel identifier 125 foridentification of the blood vessel. Vessel identifier 125 may use anytype of processing criteria to distinguish a vein from an artery suchas, for example, pulsatility of the blood vessel, or the like. Once thevessel has been identified, information relating to the location andtype of blood vessel may be communicated to image processor 130 andsample volume extractor 150.

Once identification of a desired sample volume location has been made,system 100 may, in an embodiment, continue to periodically searchlocations closer to the skin surface, or other predetermined location,for the presence of vessels in the event the patient and/or probeposition has changed. It will be appreciated that such an embodiment mayserve to keep the sample volume at the appropriate location on thevessel or other structure. Also, system 100 may continually test thesignal from the selected sample volume location against the predefinedselection criteria. If the signal from the sample volume no longer meetsthe selection criteria, the system may reenter a full-time search modeuntil a new vessel is found.

Image processor 130 may operate to process an image of the positiondisplacement data into a visual representation. The visualrepresentation may include a still image, a video, or a combination ofstill images and video. Image processor 130 may include graphics overlayprocessing module 135, which operates to place a graphic sample volumeindicator of the location of the blood vessel on the visual/videorepresentation of the located blood vessel in addition to an optionalvessel identifier. In an embodiment, the visual representation may be aB-mode image. The vessel may be identified as vein or artery, forexample. In one embodiment, these vessel types may be distinguished bypresenting a textual or iconic label on the display, for example.Alternatively, color coding may be used to distinguish different vesseltypes. Additionally, to illustrate the visual representation of thelocated and identified blood vessel, display 140 may be incorporated inultrasound system 100. Display 140 may include any type of device forpresenting visual information, such as, for example, a CRT monitor, LCD,plasma display, or the like. In such an embodiment, display 140 mayreceive the processed image from image processor 130 and output thevisual representation of the position displacement data and the graphicsample volume indicator.

FIG. 3 a depicts an example position displacement data display ofarterial flow, while FIG. 3 b depicts venous flow according to aspectsof an embodiment. The 2D color flow representation is shown at the topportion of FIG. 3 a while the time-motion spectral display is shown inthe bottom portion of FIG. 3 a. As noted above, arterial flow pulsatesperiodically, while venous flow is at a near-constant velocity. In theillustrated embodiment, 301 a and 301 b depict example ultrasoundimages. Sample volumes, denoted as 303 a and 303 b, are analyzed todetermine if a blood vessel is located within sample volumes 303 a and303 b. Position displacement data, 305 a and 305 b, is computed and acharacteristic of the data may be visually represented. Additionally,the position displacement signals from sample volumes 305 a and 305 bmay be audibly represented.

Referencing once again to FIG. 1, to provide an audio representation ofthe blood vessel contained in a sample volume, ultrasound system 100 mayinclude sample volume extractor 150, position displacement audioprocessor 160, digital-to-analog converter 170, and speaker 180. Samplevolume extractor 150 may operate to extract a portion of the locatedblood vessel for the creation of an audio representation provided byposition displacement audio processor 160. In an embodiment, the audiorepresentation may permit a physician, technician, or other user todetermine when the ultrasound system 100 has located a particular typeof blood vessel without the need for looking at display 140. Forexample, an audio representation having a steady or near-constant audiotone may indicate that a vein has been located, while a pulsating audiotone may indicate an artery.

In an embodiment, position displacement audio processor 160 may produceposition displacement audio from the base-band data pair including I/Qdata samples at the PRF rate received from integration module 194. TheI/Q data samples may be high-pass filtered to remove any undesirablelow-frequency components caused by, for example, slow-moving tissueechoes. The filtering may be performed with standard finite-impulseresponse (FIR) or infinite-impulse response (IIR) filters.Forward/reverse flow separation may be performed to distinguish flowdirected towards transducer 110 from flow directed away from transducer110. Flow separation may be performed with a Hilbert Transform, wellknown to those skilled in the art, of the complex audio signal data, forexample. In one embodiment, audio signals from each direction may beoutput to individual speakers that are physically separated from eachother. Additionally, a composite of flow from both directions may existin either the real or imaginary component of the complex I/Q sequence.If directional separation is unnecessary, a single component (I or Q) ofthe complex sequence may be selected and output to a single speaker. Inthis case, a Hilbert Transform may not be necessary. Furthermore, if theposition displacement data is used for audio rendering and not forspectral analysis, data processing may be simplified by extracting oneof the base-band components from demodulator 193 and performinghigh-pass filtering on that single component.

Digital-to-analog converter 170 may convert the digital audio signalinto an analog signal. Speaker 180 outputs the audio representation ofthe located blood vessel as provided by digital-to-analog converter 170.In an embodiment, ultrasound system 100 may be arranged in a wirelessconfiguration, where any or all of the individual components maywirelessly communicate the signal, signal information, and the raw andcomputed data.

The identification of a blood vessel may be determined from an analysisof data from multiple sample volume locations. In one embodiment, asmall sample volume size may be used at each sample volume location.FIG. 4 is a binary map representation of small sample volume locationsthat may or may not be identified as blood vessels. Representation 410illustrates an unfiltered binary map indicating the results frommultiple small sample volumes. Sample volumes determined likely to bewithin a blood vessel are indicated by an “x” while those not likely tobe within a vessel are indicated with a “.”. Representation 420 is afiltered version of the unfiltered binary map of representation 410.Filtered representation 420 may, for example, eliminate the small samplevolume locations that are not clustered so that spurious samples areremoved by the filter. In one embodiment, a depiction of the vesseledges, representation 430, may be formed from filtered representation420. The selected final sample volume may be a portion of the volumelocated within the vessel edges and may be larger than the originalsample volumes used in the search process, as shown in representation440. In such a case both the final sample volume size and location aredetermined by processing the small sample volume vessel determinations.

Referring for a moment to FIG. 9 b, an example configuration 900 oftransducer array 910, blood vessel 930 and ultrasound beam vector 911 isillustrated according to an embodiment. The beamformer (not shown) ofsuch an embodiment may ensure that the ultrasound system is mostsensitive to echoes received along beam vector 911. The dots illustratedin FIG. 9 b that are along beam vector 911 represent individual samplevolumes from which position displacement or other signal characteristicsmay be analyzed to determine a likelihood that a vessel exists at eachsample volume location. The raw, unfiltered sequence in FIG. 4 shows ahypothetical vessel identification scenario with the Xs indicating“vessel present” and the dots indicating “no vessel present.” It will beappreciated that each determination, by itself, may be erroneous as itis indicated in the example sequence. Linear filtering (e.g., boxcar) ornon-linear filtering (e.g., median) of the raw sequence may improve thedetermination of vessel 930's existence as well as its true boundaries.The data from the individual sample volumes located within vessel 930'sdetermined boundaries may be combined in some way that will improve theidentification of vessel 930 as a vein or artery, or for identifyingsome other characteristic of vessel 930. In addition, it will beappreciated that each determination of “vessel present” or “no vesselpresent” may be repeated any number of times to increase the probabilityof a correct determination.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting an example method of locating a bloodvessel according to an embodiment. References are also made to FIG. 1 asappropriate. The method may be performed by ultrasound system 100, forexample. At 505, an ultrasound pulse is transmitted at a sample volumewithin an object, such as a portion of a human body. The transmissionmay be performed by transducer 110 and may be at a periodic rate, or aPRF. At 510, a return echo signal is received. At 515, the return echosignal, which may include information related to the object at which theultrasound pulse was aimed, may be processed. The optional processingmay include, but is not limited to, amplifying, digitizing, and/ordemodulating the echo signal.

At 520, position displacement data of the sample volume from the echosignal may be computed. In one embodiment, the Doppler principle may beemployed to determine spectral characteristics of the sample volume,which in turn may be used to determine if a blood vessel is locatedwithin the sample volume, as discussed above in connection with FIG. 1.In other embodiments, other time domain (i.e., non-spectral) techniquesmay be used for blood vessel determination. These include, but are notlimited to, the autocorrelation technique commonly used in color flowmapping, which should be familiar to those skilled in the art.

At 525, the position displacement data may be analyzed to determine if ablood vessel is located within the sample volume. The analysis mayinclude a comparison of the computed position displacement data withpredetermined position displacement data having characteristics thatindicate a particular blood vessel type. For example, the predeterminedposition displacement data characteristics may correspond to positiondisplacement data of a vein and/or artery and may include informationrelating to a mean velocity, a modal velocity, an amplitude, and/or thelike.

At 530, if a blood vessel is located within the sample volume, theposition displacement data may be audibly represented using, forexample, a speaker 180 as discussed above in connection with FIG. 1. Theaudible representation may be outputted in a digital audio stream or thelike. The audible representation may allow a user, such as a physician,technician, or the like, to perform a medical procedure, such asinserting a catheter, by listening to the distinguishing audio tones ofa blood vessel without looking at a display screen, such as display 140.

If at 525 a blood vessel is not detected, then the respectivetransmitting, receiving, and computing at 505, 510, and 520 may berepeated for a plurality of sample volumes until a blood vessel isdetermined to be located within a sample volume. In one embodiment, eachsuccessive sample volume may be located at a different distance from asurface of the object. Thus, in some embodiments, the blood vesselclosest to the surface of the skin of the body may be identified.

At 535, after the detection of a blood vessel, the position displacementdata may be graphically represented in, for example, a spectral velocitytrace presented on a display such as display 140. The graphicalrepresentation may be a B-mode image in the region of the sample volumeand may also include a color flow image or the like, which should befamiliar to those skilled in the art. At 540, the graphicalrepresentation may further include a labeling of the representation,such as an indication of the location and/or type (e.g., vein or artery)of a blood vessel in the graphical representation, for example. Suchrepresentation may further aid the user of ultrasound system 100 toperform the desired procedure by identifying a blood vessel.

At 545, the position displacement, spectral, and/or other data may bestored for future use. The data may be stored in any storage device ormechanism such as, for example, a disk drive, CD-ROM, RAM, DVD, USBdrive, or the like. At 550, the position displacement data may betransmitted to a processing station for further analysis. Furtheranalysis performed by a clinician may, in an embodiment, includemeasurements of flow velocity or other characteristics from the imagedata. Images may also be enhanced by aid of a computer or a computer maybe used for automated diagnosis of disease. Stored images may alsofacilitate serial studies where previous studies are compared to morerecent ones. At 555, a map, such as a binary map as illustrated in FIG.4, may be created. The map may illustrate a location of the blood vesseland may be filtered to better identify the location of the edges of theblood vessel. The map may be created by ultrasound system 100 anddisplayed on display 140, for example. Alternatively, the map may beformed by the processing station. At 560, position displacement data maybe computed for multiple locations within the located blood vessel. Thecomputations may be performed for validity measures, for example.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting an example blood vessel detectionmethod according to an embodiment. References will also be made to FIG.1 as appropriate. The example method may be performed by exampleultrasound system 100. At 605, a transducer, such as transducer 110, isdirected at a sample volume within an object to transmit an ultrasoundpulse at the sample volume. At 610, an echo signal of the ultrasoundpulse containing information related to the sample volume is received.At 615, the echo signal may be further processed. The further processingmay include, for example, an amplification, digitization, and/ormodulation of the echo signal. Such further processing may aid in theblood vessel detection by, for example, adjusting the signal to be moreeasily and accurately analyzed.

At 620, following the receipt of the echo signal at 610 or the furtherprocessing of the echo signal at 615, a location and type of bloodvessel located within the sample volume may be determined. In anembodiment, the location and type of blood vessel may be determined bycomputing position displacement data from the received echo signal andcomparing characteristics of the position displacement data topredetermined position displacement characteristics. The information mayinclude, but is not limited to, a modal velocity, a mean velocity, andan amplitude of the echo signal. The determination may be made by vessellocator 120 or the like.

At 625, a determination may be made as to whether a blood vessel islocated within the sample volume. The determination may be made byvessel locator 120. If the determination at 625 is that a blood vesselis located within the region, then at 630 the echo signals from thelocated blood vessel may be processed to create a visual and/or audiorepresentation of the located blood vessel. The creation of the audiorepresentation, which may be done by sample volume extractor 150 andposition displacement audio processor 160, may include the computationof a base-band data pair of the position displacement data followed bythe production of position displacement audio from the base-band datapair. The position displacement audio may be converted to an analogsignal by converter 170, and the analog signal may be outputted byspeaker 180.

If the determination at 625 is that a blood vessel is not located,thereby indicating that the characteristics of the position displacementdata do not correspond with the predetermined position displacementcharacteristics, at 635, second information related to a second regionmay be obtained. Vessel locator 120, upon determining that a bloodvessel or the desired type of blood vessel is not located within thefirst sample volume, may then analyze a plurality of sample volumesuntil the blood vessel is determined to be located within one of thesample volumes. Therefore, at 640, second position displacement datafrom the second information of the received echo signal may be computedand, at 645, characteristics of the second position displacement datamay be compared to predetermined position displacement characteristicsto determine the location of a blood vessel.

At 650, a determination may be made by, for example, vessel locator 120,whether a blood vessel is located within the second region. If a bloodvessel is found to be within the second region, then, at 620, a visualand/or audio representation of the located blood vessel may be created.If the determination at 650 does not result in the location of a bloodvessel within the second region, then 635, 640 and 645 may be repeatedfor subsequent regions until a blood vessel, such as an artery or vein,is located. Alternatively, 635, 640, and 645 may be repeated apredetermined number of times, until a predetermined depth within thepatient is reached, or the like.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exampleprobe 700 according to one embodiment. It should be appreciated that anyor all of the components illustrated in FIG. 7 may be disposed within ahousing (not shown in FIG. 7) having any form factor. Probe 700 mayinclude circuitry that is represented in FIG. 7 as a series of blocks,each having a different function with respect to the operation of probe700. While the following discussion treats each of the blocks as aseparate entity, an embodiment contemplates that any or all of suchfunctions may be implemented by hardware and/or software that may becombined or divided into any number of components. For example, in oneembodiment the functions represented by any or all of the blocksillustrated in FIG. 7 may be performed by components of a single printedcircuit board or the like.

Transducer 110 represents any number of transducer elements that may bepresent in probe 700. Electroacoustic ultrasound transducer typesinclude piezoelectric, piezoceramic, capacitive, microfabricated,capacitive microfabricated, piezoelectric microfabricated, and the like.Some embodiments may include transducers for sonar, radar, optical,audible, or the like. Transducer 110 elements may be comprised ofindividual transmitter and receiver elements. For example, transmitter196 includes one or more transmitters that drive each of the transducerelements represented by transducer 110, as well as transmit and/orreceive switch circuitry that isolates transmitter 196 from a receiverchannel (which may be part of preamp 191 in FIG. 7) during the transmitevent. The transmitters may produce a focused, unfocused or defocusedtransmit beam, depending on the intended application. For example, thefocused beam may be useful when high peak acoustic pressure is desiredas is the case in harmonic imaging. One embodiment uses defocusedtransmit beams to provide insonfication or interrogation of a relativelylarger spatial region as required for synthetic transmit focusing. Thetransmit beam may be configured to elicit return echo information thatis sufficient to produce an ultrasound image along an imaging plane.

Probe 700 receiver circuitry (not shown in FIG. 7) may include alow-noise, high-gain preamplifier 191 for each receive channel (e.g.,manufactured by Texas Instruments model number VCA2615 dual-channelvariable gain amplifier or the like). Any number of receive channels maybe present in an embodiment. Preamplifier 191 may provide variable gainthroughout a data acquisition time interval. Preamplifier 191 may befollowed by bandpass filter 714 that may operate to reduce the noisebandwidth prior to analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion.

Transmit timing, time-gain control (TGC) and multiplexer control 712 mayin some embodiments provide timing and control of each transmitexcitation pulse, element multiplexer setting, and TGC waveform. Anexample unipolar transmitter channel circuit may include, for example, atransistor functioning as a high-voltage switch followed by a capacitor.The capacitor may be charged to a high voltage (e.g., 100V), and thendischarged through the transistor upon excitation by a trigger pulse.Similar transistor-based switches may also be used for transmit/receiveisolation, element-to-channel multiplexing, etc. Other embodiments mayinclude more sophisticated transmitters capable of bipolar excitationsand/or complex wave shaping and/or the like.

To focus the transmitted ultrasound energy at a desired spatiallocation, in some embodiments, the excitation pulse of each transducerelement may be delayed in time relative to the other elements. Such adelay pattern may cause the ultrasound waves from excited elements tocombine coherently at a particular point in space, for example. This maybe beneficial for a focused and/or an acoustic transmit focused system,for example. Alternatively, the transmit waveforms may be delayed insuch a way as to defocus the beam. This may be beneficial for a systememploying synthetic transmit focusing, for example.

In some embodiments, a TGC portion of block 712 may provide aprogrammable analog waveform to adjust the gain of variable gainpreamplifier 191. The analog waveform may be controlled by a userthrough a user interface such as, for example, a set of slide controlsused to create a piece-wise linear function. In some embodiments, thispiece-wise linear function may be calculated in software, and thenprogrammed into sequential addresses of a digital memory, for example.The digital memory may be read out sequentially at a known time intervalbeginning shortly after the transmit excitation pulse, for example. Insome embodiments, output of the memory may be fed into adigital-to-analog converter (DAC) to generate the analog waveform. Insome embodiments, time may be proportional to the depth of theultrasound echoes in the ultrasound receiver. As a result, echoesemanating from tissue deep within a patient's body may be attenuatedmore than those from shallow tissue and, therefore, require increasedgain. The controlling waveform may also be determined automatically bythe system by extracting gain information from the image data, forexample. Also, in some embodiments, the controlling waveform may bepredetermined and stored in the memory, and/or determined during systemoperation.

One embodiment may include a multiplexer within block 196 formultiplexing a relatively large array of transducer 110 elements into asmaller number of transmit and/or receive channels. Such multiplexingmay allow a smaller ultrasound aperture to slide across a full array onsuccessive transmit events. Both transmit and receive apertures may bereduced to the same number of channels or they may differ from eachother. For example, the full array may be used for transmitting while areduced aperture may be used on receive. It should be appreciated thatany combination of full and/or decimated arrays on both transmit andreceive are contemplated by the disclosed embodiments.

Multiplexing also may provide for building a synthetic receive apertureby acquiring different subsets of the full aperture on successivetransmit events. Multiplexing may also provide for the grouping ofelements by connecting adjacent elements on either transmit or receive.Grouping by different factors is also possible such as, for example,using a group of three elements on transmit and a group of two elementson receive. One embodiment may provide multiplexing for synthetictransmit focusing mode and multiplexing for acoustic transmit focusingmode and provide for switching from one mode to the other, for example,on frame boundaries. Other multiplexing schemes are also possible andare contemplated by the disclosed embodiments.

Multiplexing may be controlled by using transmit timing, TGC andmultiplexer control 712. Various transmit and/or receive elements may beselected when imaging a particular spatial region. For example,ultrasound echo data for an image frame may be acquired by sequentiallyinterrogating adjacent sub-regions of a patient's body until data forthe entire image frame has been acquired. In such a case, differentsub-apertures (which may include elements numbering less than the fullarray) may be used for some or all sub-regions. The multiplexer controlfunction may be programmed to select the appropriate sub-aperture(transmit and/or receive), for example, for each transmit excitation andeach image region. The multiplexer control function may also providecontrol of element grouping.

Analog to Digital (A/D) converter 192 may convert the analog image datareceived from probe 700 into digital data using any method. Digitaldemodulator 193 may include any type of digital complex mixer, low-passfilter and re-sampler after each A/D converter channel, for example. Insome embodiments, the digital mixer may modulate the received image datato a frequency other than a center frequency of probe 700. In someembodiments, this function may be performed digitally rather than in theanalog or sampling domains to provide optimum flexibility and minimalanalog circuit complexity. The low-pass filter may reduce the signalbandwidth after mixing and before re-sampling when a lower sampling rateis desired. One embodiment may use quadrature sampling at A/D converter192 and, therefore, such an embodiment may not require a quadraturemixer to translate the digital data (e.g., radio frequency (RF)) signalsof transducer 110 to a baseband frequency. However, complex demodulationby means of an analog or digital mixer or the like may also be used inconnection with an embodiment.

Memory buffer 724 may have sufficient storage capacity to store up to,for example, two frames of data. Such a frame-sized buffer 724 may allowframes to be acquired at a rate substantially higher than the rate atwhich frames can be transferred to main unit 730 (or some other device)across wireless interface 720, for example. Such a configuration may, inan embodiment, be preferable to acquiring each frame over a longer timeinterval because a longer time interval may reduce a coherence of theacquired data throughout the frame. If frame transmission rates are atleast as fast as frame acquisition rates, a smaller memory buffer 724may be used in some embodiments. One embodiment uses a “ping-pong”buffer fed by the receiver channels as memory buffer 724. Data frommultiple channels may be time interleaved into memory buffer 724. Forexample, 32 receiver channels each sampled at the rate of 6 MHz wouldproduce a total baseband data rate of 192 M words per second, which iswell within the rates of conventional DDR2 SDRAM. The ping-pong natureof memory buffer 724 may allow new data to fill buffer 724 whilepreviously acquired data is read from memory and sent to wirelessinterface 720, for example.

Memory buffer 724 is followed by data merger 726. Data merger 726 mayoperate to merge receive channel data into one or more data streamsbefore advancing the data stream to wireless interface 720 fortransmission to main unit 730, for example. Data from data merger 726may be sent across wireless interface 720 (and/or across wired interface722) at a rate that is appropriate for the transmission medium. The datafrom the receive channels may be multiplexed in some fashion prior totransmission over wireless interface 720 and/or wired interface 722. Forexample, time-division multiplexing (TDM) may be used. Other types ofmultiplexing are also possible such as, for example, frequency-divisionmultiplexing (FDM), code-division multiplexing (CDM), and/or somecombination of these or other multiplexing techniques.

In addition to image data transfer, control information may betransferred between probe 700 and main unit 730. Such control data maybe transferred over the same communication link, such as wirelessinterface 720 and/or wired interface 722, or some other communicationlink. Control commands may be communicated between main unit 730 andprobe 700 (and/or other devices). Such control commands may servevarious purposes, including for example, instructing a mode of operationand/or various imaging parameters such as maximum imaging depth,sampling rate, element multiplexing configuration, etc. Also, controlcommands may be communicated between probe 700 and main unit 730 tocommunicate probe-based user controls 704 (e.g., button pushes) andprobe operational status (e.g., battery level from power supplymanagement 730), and the like.

The probe's status may include an indicator and/or display of certainvalues relevant to the operation of the system. For example, theindicator may be visible, audio, and/or some combination thereof.Without limitation, the indicator may indicate power status, designationof device, type of device, frequency range, array configuration, powerwarnings, capability of a remote unit, quality of transmission ofdigital data, quantity of errors in transmission of digital data,availability of power required for transmission of digital data, changein transmission rate, completion of transmission, quality of datatransmission, look-up tables, programming code for field programmablegate arrays and microcontrollers, transmission characteristics of thenon-beamformed ultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the echoedultrasound wave, processing characteristics of the digital data, and/ortransmission characteristics of the digital data, etc. Also, theindicator may show characteristics of a power source like capacity,type, charge state, power state, and age of power source.

It will be appreciated that in an embodiment where probe 700 is to beused in a sterile environment, the use of wireless interface 720 to mainunit 730 may be desirable, as the use of wireless interface 720 avoidsmany of the problems associated with having a physical connectionbetween probe 700 and main unit 730 that passes into and out of asterile field. In other embodiments, sheathing or sterilizationtechniques may eliminate or reduce such concerns. In an embodiment wherewireless interface 720 is used, controls 704 may be capable of beingmade sterile so as to enable a treatment provider to use controls 704while performing ultrasound imaging tasks or the like. However, eitherwireless interface 720 or wired interface 722, or a combination of both,may be used in connection with an embodiment.

Probe 700 circuitry may also include power supply 736, which may operateto provide drive voltage to the transmitters as well as power to otherprobe electronics. Power supply 736 may be any type of electrical powerstorage mechanism, such as one or more batteries or other devices. Inone embodiment, power supply 736 may be capable of providingapproximately 100V DC under typical transmitter load conditions. Powersupply 736 may also be designed to be small and light enough to fitinside a housing of probe 700, if configured to be hand held by atreatment provider or the like. In addition, power supply managementcircuitry 730 may also be provided to manage the power provided by powersupply 736 to the ultrasound-related circuits of probe 700. In anembodiment, such management functions may include monitoring of voltagestatus and alerts of low-voltage conditions, for example.

Controls 704 may be provided to control probe 700. Control interface 732may pass user input received from controls 704 to data/control arbiter728 for processing and action, if necessary. Such control informationmay also be sent to main unit 730 through either wireless interface 720or wired interface 722. In addition to sending data to main unit 730,wireless interface 720 may also receive control or other informationfrom main unit 730. This information may include, for example, imageacquisition parameters, look-up tables and programming code for fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs) or microcontrollers residing in probe700, or the like. Controller interface 732 within probe 700 may acceptand interpret commands from main unit 730 and configure probe 700circuitry accordingly.

Now that an example configuration of components of probe 700 has beendescribed, an example configuration of components of main unit 730 willbe discussed with reference to FIG. 8. It should be noted that any orall of the components illustrated in FIG. 8 may be disposed within oneor more housings (not shown in FIG. 8) having any form factor.

As discussed above, probe 700 may be in operative communication withmain unit 730 by way of wireless interface 720 and/or wired interface722. It will be appreciated that in an embodiment most data transferoccurs from probe 700 to main unit 730, although in some embodimentsmore data may be transferred from main unit 730 to probe 700. That is,large amounts of image data sent from probe 700 may be received by mainunit 730, as well as control information or the like. Controlinformation is managed and, in many cases, generated by CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) controller 832. CPU controller 832 may also beresponsible for configuring circuitry of main unit 730 for an activemode of operation with required setup parameters.

In some embodiments, data/control arbiter 810 may be responsible forextracting control information from the data stream received by wirelessinterface 720 and/or wired interface 722 and passing it to CPU 832 whilesending image data from the data stream to input buffer 812.Data/control arbiter 810 may also receive control information from CPU832, and may transfer the control information to probe 700 via wirelessinterface 720 and/or wired interface 722.

A user, such as a treatment provider or the like, may control theoperations of main unit 730 using control panel 830. Control panel 830may include any type of input or output device, such as knobs,pushbuttons, a keyboard, mouse, and/or trackball, etc. Main unit 730 maybe powered by any type of power supply (not shown in FIG. 8) such as,for example, a 120 VAC outlet along with AC-DC converter module, and/ora battery, etc.

To facilitate forming an image on display 140 (e.g., pixelforming—aprocess that generates an ultrasound image from the image data receivedfrom probe 700), the incoming image data may be stored in input buffer812. In an embodiment, input buffer 812 may be capable of storing up toapproximately two frames of data, for example, and may operate in a“ping-pong” fashion whereby a previously received frame of data isprocessed by pixelformer 822 while a new incoming frame is written toanother page of memory in input buffer 812. Pixelformer 822 may be anycombination of hardware and/or software that is capable of transformingraw image data received from the receive channels and the transmitevents (e.g., from probe 700) into a pixel-based image format. This maybe performed, in just one example, by coherently combining data fromvarious transmit and receive elements, or groups of elements, to form animage focused optimally at each pixel. Many variations of this approachmay be used in connection with an embodiment. Also, this function mayinclude a beamformer that focuses samples along beam directions. Thefocused sample data may be converted to a Cartesian format for displayon display 140.

Once a frame of complex pixel data has been formed, it may be stored inframe buffer 824 for use by either flow estimator 826 and/or imageprocessor 130. In an embodiment, flow estimator 826 uses, for example,position displacement, Doppler or cross-correlation methods to determineone or more flow characteristics from the received image (e.g.,ultrasound echo) data. Once the flow estimation parameters have beencomputed, they may be encoded into data values and either stored inframe buffer 824 for access by image processor 130 and/or sent directlyto image processor 130. Note that the term “pixel” as used hereintypically refers to an image sample, residing on a Cartesian polarand/or non-uniform coordinate grid, computed by processing captured echosignal data. Actual display pixels may differ from these image pixels invarious ways. For example, the display pixels, as presented on display350, may be a scaled, resized, filtered, enhanced, or otherwise modifiedversion of the image pixels referred to herein. These functions may beperformed by a processor, for example, image processor 328. Pixel alsomay refer to any finite level, value, or subcomponent of an image. Forexample, an image that is made up of a number of subcomponents, bothvisual and otherwise, may be referred to as a pixel.

Spectral Processor (SP) 820 may receive focused baseband data frompixelformer 822 from one or more spatial locations within the imageregion in a periodic or other fashion. The spatial locations may bereferred to as range gates. SP 820 may perform high-pass filtering onthe data to remove signal contributions from slow moving tissue or thelike. The remaining higher frequency signals from blood flow may be inthe normal audio frequency range and these signals may be conventionallypresented as an audible signal by speaker 180. Such audio informationmay, for example, assist a treatment provider in discerning a nerve froma blood vessel and/or a vein from an artery. SP 820 may also performspectral analysis via a discrete Fourier transform computation, or othermeans, to create an image representing a continuously updated flowvelocity display (i.e., a time-varying spectrogram of the blood flowsignal). The velocity data may be sent through image processor 130 forfurther processing and display.

A user of main unit 730 may use microphone 814 for controlling main unit730 using, for example, voice recognition technology. Alternately, or inaddition to using microphone 814 for control purposes, a user may usemicrophone 814 for taking notes while examining a patient. Audio notesmay be saved separate from, or along with, video data.

Audio codec 816 may accept audio data input from microphone 814 and mayinterface with CPU 832 so audio data received by audio codec 816 may bestored and/or interpreted by CPU 832. Such audio interpretation mayfacilitate system control by way of, for example, voice commands from auser of main unit 730. For example, frequently-used system commands maybe made available via voice control. Such commands may also be madeavailable by way of control panel 830, for example. Audio storagefacilitates audio annotation of studies for recording patientinformation, physician notes and the like. The audio data may first beconverted to a compressed format such as MP3 before storing in, forexample, storage 838. Other standard, proprietary, compressed oruncompressed formats may also be used in connection with an embodiment.Speaker 180 may provide audio output for reviewing stored annotation orfor user prompts from main unit 730 resulting from error conditions,warnings, notifications, etc. As mentioned above, position displacement,Doppler or other signals may also be output to speaker 180 for userguidance in range gate and/or steering line placement and vesselidentification.

Video interface 834 may be in operative communication with imageprocessor 130 to display 140 by way of CPU 832. Display 140 may be anydevice that is capable of presenting visual information to a user ofmain unit 730 such as, for example, an LCD flat panel, CRT monitor,composite video display or the like. Video data may also be sent tostorage 838, which may be a VCR, disk drive, USB drive, CD-ROM, DVD orother storage device. Prior to storage, for example, still image framesof data may be encoded in a compressed format such as JPEG, JPEG2000 orthe like. Image clips or sequences may be encoded in a format such asMJPEG, MJPEG2000 or a format that includes temporal compression such asMPEG. Other standard or proprietary formats may be used as well.

Image processor 130 may accept either complex and/or detected tissueimage data and then filter it temporally (i.e., frame to frame) andspatially to enhance image quality by improving contrast resolution(e.g., by reducing acoustic speckle artifact) and by improving SNR(e.g., by removing random noise). Image processor 130 may also receiveflow data and merge it with such tissue data to create a resultant imagecontaining both tissue and flow information. To accomplish this, imageprocessor 130 may use an arbitration process to determine whether eachpixel includes flow information or tissue information. Tissue and/orflow pixels may also be resized and/or resealed to fit different pixelgrid dimensions either prior to and/or after arbitration. Pixels mayalso be overwritten by graphical or textual information. In anembodiment, both the flow arbitration and graphical overlay may occurjust prior to image display to allow the tissue and flow images to beprocessed independently.

Temporal filtering typically may be performed on both the tissue andflow data prior to merging the data. Temporal filtering can yieldsignificant improvements in SNR and contrast resolution of the tissueimage and reduced variance of the flow image while still achieving afinal displayed temporal resolution suitable for clinical diagnosis. Asa result, relatively higher levels of synthetic aperture subsampling maybe provided, thereby reducing the required and/or desired number ofreceiver channels (and, consequently, in some embodiments powerconsumption of probe 700). Temporal filtering typically involvesfiltering data from frame to frame using either an FIR or IIR-typefilter. In one embodiment, a simple frame averaging method may be usedas discussed below, for example.

Temporal filtering and/or persistence is commonly applied to frames ofultrasound data derived from, for example, tissue echoes. When theacquisition frame rate exceeds the rate of motion of anatomicalstructures, low-pass filtering across frames can reduce random additivenoise while preserving or enhancing image structures. Also, minutedegrees of motion—commonly due to patient or operator movement—help toreduce image speckle, which is caused by the interference of acousticenergy from randomly distributed scatterers that are too small to beresolved with the frequency range of ultrasound probe 700. Speckle iscoherent by its nature so, in the absence of motion, it may produce thesame pseudo-random noise pattern on each image frame. However, smallamounts of motion diversify the speckle enough to make low-passfiltering across frames effective at reducing it.

A simple method of temporal filtering may involve averaging neighboringframes. An example of the recursive version of a moving-average filteris described as follows where X(n) is the input frame acquired at timen, Y(n) is the corresponding output frame, and k is a frame delay factorthat sets the size of the averaging window:

Y(n)=Y(n−1)+X(n)−X(n−k)  (1)

Another simple low-pass filter is a first-order IIR filter of the form:

Y(n)=C×Y(n−1)+(1−C)×X(n)  (2)

In such an embodiment, the coefficient C sets the filter's time constantand the degree of low-pass filtering applied to the frame sequence. Itshould be appreciated that Equations (1) and (2) are just examples ofpossible filters and filtering techniques that may be used in connectionwith an embodiment.

Control panel 830 may provide pushbuttons, knobs, etc., to allow theuser to interact with the system by changing modes, adjusting imagingparameters, and so forth. Control panel 830 may be operatively connectedto CPU 832 by way of, for example, a simple low bandwidth serialinterface or the like. Main unit 730 may also include one or more I/Ointerfaces 736 for communication with other devices, computers, anetwork or the like by way of a computer interface such as USB, USB2,Ethernet or WiFi wireless networking, for example. Such interfaces allowimage data or reports to be transferred to a computer or externalstorage device (e.g., disk drive, CD-ROM or DVD drive, USB drive, flashmemory, etc.) for later review or archiving, and may allow an externalcomputer or user to control main unit 730 remotely.

There are at least two techniques used for interrogating a medium andprocessing the data needed to create an ultrasound image: synthetictransmit focusing and acoustic transmit focusing. In synthetic transmitfocusing, the interrogating ultrasound waves may be transmitted into themedium, from various locations in the array, in an unfocused ordefocused manner, and reflected waves are received and processed.Somewhat differently, with acoustic transmit focusing the interrogatingultrasound waves may be transmitted in a way that provides focus atcertain spatial locations in the medium, and therefore the transmittedultrasound wave cooperates to form a “beam.” Various embodimentscontemplate synthetic transmit focusing, acoustic transmit focusing,and/or a combination of both. One embodiment contemplates dynamicallyswitching between synthetic transmit focusing and acoustic transmitfocusing modes periodically. For example, color flow data acquisitionmay use acoustic transmit focusing while tissue imaging may usesynthetic transmit focusing. Color flow and tissue data may be collectedon some alternating basis, for example. Other embodiments may includethe use of non-beamformed techniques, in which, a beam may not be formedand/or be partially formed. Similarly, these beamformed andnon-beamformed techniques may be used after the medium is interrogatedin evaluating the echoed ultrasound waves and/or the digital data fromwhich these waves are formed.

All or portions of the methods of the described embodiments may beembodied in hardware, software, or a combination of both. When embodiedin software, the methods of the described embodiments, or certainaspects or portions thereof, may be embodied in the form of program codethat, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system toperform the methods of the described embodiments. This program code maybe stored on any computer-readable medium. The terms “program code” and“code” refer to any set of instructions that are executed or otherwiseprocessed by a processor. Program code and/or data can be implemented inthe form of routines, programs, objects, modules, data structures andthe like that perform particular functions. The hardware components mayall be part of the same hardware, for example, a processor runningsoftware may perform a method of selecting a blood vessel and a bloodvessel detection method.

It is noted that the foregoing examples have been provided merely forthe purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed aslimiting. While the invention has been described with reference tovarious, non-limiting embodiments, it is understood that the words thathave been used herein are words of description and illustration, ratherthan words of limitation. Further, although the embodiments have beendescribed herein with reference to particular means, materials, andexamples, the embodiments are not intended to be limited to theparticulars disclosed herein; rather, the embodiments extend to allfunctionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are withinthe scope of the appended claims.

1. An ultrasound system comprising: a probe comprising: a transducerthat transmits a first and second ultrasound pulse at a sample volumewithin an object and receives a first and second echo signal of thefirst and second ultrasound pulses; and a main unit comprising: a vessellocator that determines from the first and second echo signals alocation of a blood vessel located within the first sample volume; andan image processor that creates a visual representation of blood flowcharacteristics within the located blood vessel.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the transducer transmits the first and second ultrasoundpulses at a periodic rate.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mainunit further comprises a display device that displays the visualrepresentation of the blood flow characteristics.
 4. The system of claim1, wherein the main unit further comprises a position displacement audioprocessor that creates an audio representation of the blood flow withinthe located blood vessel.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the mainunit further comprises a speaker that outputs the audio representationof the blood flow characteristics.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theimage processor further comprises a graphics overlay module thatindicates the location of the blood vessel on the visual representationof the located blood vessel, wherein the visual representation is aB-mode image.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the main unit furthercomprises a sample volume extractor that extracts a portion of positiondisplacement data corresponding to the blood flow within the locatedblood vessel for the creation of the audio representation by theposition displacement audio processor.
 8. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a pre-amplifier that receives and amplifies the first andsecond echo signals of the first and second ultrasound pulses.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8, further comprising an analog to digital converterthat digitizes the amplified echo signals.
 10. The system of claim 9,further comprising a demodulator that converts the digitized andamplified echo signals to a baseband signal.
 11. The system of claim 8,further comprising an integration module that produces a baseband datapair at a pulse repetition frequency from a plurality of baseband signalsamples.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the probe and the main unitcommunicate wirelessly through a wireless interface.
 13. A blood vesseldetection method, the method comprising: directing a transducer totransmit a first and second ultrasound pulse at a sample volume within apatient; receiving from the transducer a first and second echo signal ofthe first and second ultrasound pulses, wherein the first and secondecho signals contain information related to the sample volume;determining from the information a location and type of blood vessellocated within the sample volume; and processing the located bloodvessel information to create at least one of a visual representation ofthe blood vessel type.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprisingprocessing the echo signal to at least one of: amplify, digitize andmodulate the received first and second echo signals.
 15. The method ofclaim 13, wherein determining from the information a location and typeof blood vessel located within the sample volume comprises: computingposition displacement data from the information of the received firstand second echo signals; and comparing a characteristic of the positiondisplacement data to a predetermined position displacementcharacteristic.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information isfirst information, and further comprising: if the characteristic of theposition displacement data does not correspond with the predeterminedposition displacement characteristic, obtaining second informationrelated to a second sample volume that is located at a second locationwithin the patient; computing second position displacement data from thesecond information of the second sample volume; comparing acharacteristic of the second position displacement data to thepredetermined position displacement characteristic.
 17. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the information related to the sample volume comprisesat least one of: a modal velocity, a mean velocity, a maximum velocity,a variance, a power, an acceleration, a deceleration, a pulsatility, andan amplitude of the first and second echo signals.